


Star of the Sea

by Frenchy, Stumblings



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dragon Age - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Pirates, Qunari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-11-01 03:14:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10913166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frenchy/pseuds/Frenchy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stumblings/pseuds/Stumblings
Summary: Barely able to scrounge by Captain Alex and first mate, Tahir desperately take a job from the vindictive Lady Katherine de Castellet. Set up by the noble women, Alex and Tahir lost everything in a skirmish with the Qun.Luckily, they offered a questionable contract with the lustrous Vol-Kas. Herah Adaar, an unscrupulous apostate is in a dire need of a smuggling crew to strengthen her criminal empire. Alex receives a crew and ship, Adaar promised, but is the salty sea captain prepared to the The Inquisition when Herah is made Inquisitor? Will the crew of the Calypso survive the schemes and devious plats of the pirates lords of Las Platas?





	Star of the Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Frenchy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frenchy/gifts).



Rapid flashes of light ripped violently through the darkened skies, the ocean air was heavy with scent of black powder, salt and singed lumber. The ship rocked violently under the dreadnought’s fierce bombardment, the wood seemed to creak and moan in pain as the laden cannons pierced her hull.  
Biting wind and frigid rain jabbed through the Captain's aged weather gear. Her arms burned , she couldn’t hold the wheel much longer, she felt crushed under the weight of her responsibility. Icy winds stiffened her knuckles, fingers stuck to the splintering wood, she felt tied to the burden of her command. 

Their rudder was in shambles. Her once pristine sails tore away with the next blast icy wind, shuddering useless off yards away. Lose ropes lashed panicked sailors as they tried to hapless to secure the thread-baren topsail. Cold wind surged, more blasts ruptured the wounded hull, they couldn’t hang on.  
She was losing her ship to the inky bottomless grave beneath the crumbling deck. The Captain shouted quick terror stricken orders, only to be drowned out by the incessant screams and moans of the dying seaman cursing their water-locked fates. 

She was losing her ship, gritting her teeth she wrenched the ship’s wheel harder, forcing her injured companion to face their enemy.  
Teeth tightened upon themselves, gritting, gnawing, grinding. Her sharp brows furrowed, her freckled face burned despite the frigid sea air. Her gripped tightened on her battered helm as she sharply jerked the wheel again. She could still hear the desperate screams her men as the ship heeled hard over the violent waves. 

Here’s a demon of storm and a right ruddy situation the Captain thought. Alex had run ‘cargo’ through the Northern Sea, close to Par Vollen. Their passage was supposed to be secured but the Qun was well prepared for her arrival. Betrayal was the only answer. She bit down on her peeling lips thinking to herself, damn Katherine de Castellet. Katherine betrayed her, selling Alex out to the Qunari. Blood thirsty, noble bitch, Alex thought angrily to herself. Bracing the wheel of her frigate so it stayed on target. 

Her ship was a smuggling ship, the Memnoch of Blackwood*, named for the cut-throat smuggler who originally owned the frigate. Lady Kathrine de Castellet needed something smuggled past Par Vollen and Alex’s was quick to accept the trip. It paid well and her ship needed repairs desperately. It had traded a score of times since her creation, the Memnoch was tired and weakened by sea worms from many voyages. But now the white-waters wastes burst over her bow, her timber screeching, her decks scattered with rope and wreckage. The Memnoch was unsalvageable. 

The Qun had her ship in sight, ready to rid their waters of filthy pirate rubbage. No, squared her fine jaw, her ship wouldn’t just disappear, forgotten. Gritting her teeth she growled with frustration, a week , they had chased her crew for a week. Exhaustion had set in, she had made tactical mistake coming in to close the shores of her enemy. 

She remembered the old Tevinter seaman that had warned her of the treacherous wrath of The Qun, their tyrannically persistence that would swallow entire vessels in their desire to purge the world of undesirables. They were unrelentless and would eventually swallow Thedas with a savage avarice. Her snapped from reverie as the massive Qunari flagship unleashed another round of cannons. 

Alex had been through a number skirmishes and she thought she had seen them all. However, this storm was nightmarishly strong and the Qun’s cannons were too accurate. She shouted an order over the terrified yelps to extinguish the lanterns and search for survivors below deck while intensely listening to the voice of the wind through the thick shroud of smoke. Bitch, damn noble bitch, Alex thought angrily to herself, she felt her hands terrible with a horrid rage. 

A heavy hand grasped Alex’s thin arm startling her from her stupor. Alex glanced at the hand’s owner letting a sigh of relief, Tahir, her first mate.  
Tahir’s appearance was deceiving to most people. He looked like a ramshackled beggar, or a drunk. Strong square jaw in need of a long overdue shave, long-shaggy chestnut hair violently blowing in the icy wind. His skin was warm and sun-kissed from long days out on the deck, watching the crew with a keen eye. His wore a loose tattered cotton shirt tucked haphazardly into his baggy brown pants, hiding his strong and muscular frame. 

He gripped her arm tighter, shouting above the roaring winds “Yer need to abandoned ship, Capn’t !” His usually calm hazel eyes flashed with alarm and panic. Alex stubbornly shook her head, refusing to leave her dying vessel. 

“Alex, yer need to leave!” He shook her harder, trying to knock some sense in her. “Ain’t no one left ‘cept us and Vanni!” 

Alex shook her head, squaring with her particular distinct stubbornness. “Not ‘till I get retribution, Tahir.” She wrench the wheel harder, aligning her vessel with the Qun’s massive flagship. 

“Retribution, Tahir.” She repeated herself with a determined self-insurance. With a quick look to Tahir, “Go mate.” Alex paused stealing a glanced at Vanni’s tiny elven frame being tossed across the deck, desperately clinging to side of the ship. 

The elf gripped the side tightly, she gave a terrified glance to her captain.  
Vanni’s fine freckled face was pale and panicked stricken. Her yellow wide eyes raced frantically between Alex and Tahir, her mouth moved haplessly, silently trying to scream at them. But to no prevail, she couldn’t physically make a sound after a sadistic Ferelden noble removed the woman’s tongue. Her elongated ear tightened with fear against her curly russet hair, she tried to screech again as another violent round of cannons pierced the hull.

“ Take Vanni with you.” Alex furrowed her brow, tightening her grip on the battered wheel. 

“Ain’t leavin’ yer ‘ere, Alex!” Tahir shouted reaching for her arm hoping to dislodge the stubborn woman from the wheel. “ There be other ships!”  
She tightened her grip on the wheel and mustered an angry look before shouting at her first mate. 

“Go!” Her face burned with rage, her voice boomed with freighting demand. “Take Vanni with you or her life is your responsibility, yer gotcha orders.”  
She watched as Tahir’s eyes widen with shock and slight betrayal. 

He swiftly let go of her arm before rushing down to the panicked elf, clutching tightly to her pet chicken. Alex watched as the Qunari’s flagship fire another round of cannons at her sinking ship. She shifted her attention back the Tahir and Vanni tossing loose wreckage off the Memnoch before diving into the inky ocean. 

Alex let go of the wheel before sliding to down the ship’s latter to the lower deck. Quickly, she grabbed the lanterns and shattered them across the battered deck.  
She glanced back up, only a few more yards, a devious smirk sprawled across her freckled face. Qunari dreadnoughts were slow and not very maneuverable. They couldn’t dodge the Memnoch’s quick frame. 

She grabbed the last lantern, still lit and paused--waiting. 

 

The Memnoch closed on the flagship, Alex’s eyes flashed, her smirk twisted into something darker. She slammed the lit lantern on the deck, watching it be consumed in rapid flames. Qunari ships carried black powder, she braced herself against the beaten mass of the Memnoch as it collided with the dreadnought. 

 

Alex could hear the shouts of the qunari crewmen as the clung to their ship ripping apart. The Memnoch was thrown into the heart of the dreadnought ablaze. The qunari’s ship exploded with a loud intense burst of heat, knocking Alex loose from the ship. A torrent of foamy sea broke across her decks, smashed down the facing and swept parts of the Memnoch away. The ship’s main hatch tore off and the inky ocean poured into the hold. 

The undertow, pulled Alex under the icy, black water with a immense force. As if an ancient sea god insured the captain went with her ship. Pure terror surged through her veins as Alex struggled against the her dark grave. She was being held underwater, gasping for air but not being able to do a damn thing about it.  
After only few seconds, she felt herself sinking deeper into the ocean, her legs tired from the struggle to bring her back toward the surface. Her brown hair rose upward like sea weed, rippling with the powerful current. 

Her lungs screamed, chest burned and finally she gasped no longer able to hold her air. Perhaps ,she thought as her vision darkened, it was better if she drowned. At least then, the nightmare would be over. Her vision tunneled. At least, Tahir and Vanni made it.  
From a distant she could hear a long calming note as if the called to her. 

But her vision gave way to darkness, body felt heavy, her last conscious thought was, ‘Is this what dying is like?’  
*********  
An incessant booming noise disturbed her from her warm cocoon. A thud struck her heavily, jarring her further from the comfortable darkness. The noise became clearer, louder, and more incessant. What was it--that noise; subtle awareness merged as the flow of thoughts began to connect to her waking life.

“Alex!” It boomed again, sounding more familiar. Another thud struck her sternum. “Wake up, damn yer!”  
Tahir, it was Tahir’s voice, she thought struggling to open her eyes. Another, thud hit her abused sternum again causing her to cough violently. She was blinded by a sudden bright light, flinging herself forward, wildly grasping for something is stabilized her on the rocking surface. 

“ Thank Andrastate’s tits.” Tahir sighed with relief, leaning back. “Welcome back from the dead.” His chuckled darkly, trying to shake his own anxieties and fears. He roughly patted Alex’s back as she coughed up excess sea water. 

“Wha the ‘ell happ’ned?” Her throat burned, stealing a glance at the man next to her. To her relief, she noticed Vanni shifting behind Tahir. Vanni gave Alex a wide crooked smile, flashing her missing front tooth, placing her chicken on the wreckage harboring them from the hungry sea. 

“Don’t think ya’ believe.” Tahir responded with exasperation , draping his hand into the cold water. A soft light emanated just under the water’s surface, propelling them slowly North. “ When we hit land, yer need to get that rash looked at.” He kept a keen eye forward. “And we’ll need to talk, Capt’n.” He grunted indignantly. 

Alex glanced down at her chest to find her skin blistered with an angry red hue. “It doesn’t look good.” She grunted back, scratching at the irritated flesh with her blunted nails. She looked up Tahir, “ What will we do now?”

He flashed Alex a skewed smile, “Get a new crew, ship and conquer the world, Capt’n.” He chuckled rolling his hand in a sarcastic salute. Alex rolled her eyes falling back, giving into exhaustion. 

Damn, Tahir was more pissed than a wet cat in a burlap sack.

**Author's Note:**

> * Memnoch and Blackwood are names borrowed from my favorite writer: Anne Rice. 
> 
> Tahir and Alex belong to Frenchy. <3 Thank you for allowing me to use them.


End file.
